Am I right in my understanding that this is the last upgrade before all new upgrades are done in the cloud? And that if you do upgrade from 4 to 5 you will not be forced at a later stage to sign up to the cloud - you can therefore use LR5 for as long as you want?

It's quite easy. Launch LR5, under FILE go to "Open Catalog" (also Shift-Command-O on a Mac), select the catalog you want to open. At this point, LR5 will ask if you want to update the catalog. Click yes and go get a pizza and a beer. I have 65,000 images in my catalog and it took quite a while to update the catalog. All my collections, smart collections, presets, etc were intact. Also leaves your original catalog untouched making it easy to step back to LR4 if you choose to.

It's quite easy. Launch LR5, under FILE go to "Open Catalog" (also Shift-Command-O on a Mac), select the catalog you want to open. At this point, LR5 will ask if you want to update the catalog. Click yes and go get a pizza and a beer. I have 65,000 images in my catalog and it took quite a while to update the catalog. All my collections, smart collections, presets, etc were intact. Also leaves your original catalog untouched making it easy to step back to LR4 if you choose to.

I think Adobe has permanently weaned me off the hind teat. Even so, I feel no bitterness. Since my money is apparently not good enough for them, I'm not able to purchase their products. Besides, I have licenses for Lr 4.4 and CS6, so I really won't need an upgrade until I buy an unsupported camera.

IFF DXO Labs starts to support Fuji X-trans sensors (strongly rumoured), I may give it a whirl... but If Nik and Topaz Labs offered products compatible with DXO, the decision would be even easier.

Am I right in my understanding that this is the last upgrade before all new upgrades are done in the cloud? And that if you do upgrade from 4 to 5 you will not be forced at a later stage to sign up to the cloud - you can therefore use LR5 for as long as you want?

Thanks.

Well, it's an excellent question, one which Adobe are playing a little footloose on answering.

Adobe are saying, currently, that LR5 will be a standalone product, available outside the Cloud and available to Creative Cloud subscription when you take the Entire Package.

But, Adobe are also saying that they are "Looking at" a "Photographic" package that would include Photoshop + Lightroom. If they do offer this in the CC subscription, how long before they take the current stance they have with Photoshop also with Lightroom. I seems to me that Adobe once they make Lightroom available as a subscription would (This is conjecture), at some point offer Lightroom only as a Subscription.

Using LR5 for for as long as you want only works until you reach a point where your current Operating System and Camera are no longer part of the ACR updates, i.e.. If LR6 goes to subscription & you buy a 1DXs, your sort of screwed using say LR5 that only covers say OSX 10.8.5 and 1Dx.

My own view on this is that I own CS6 Suite + this morning I downloaded LR5, I'm hopeful that someone like On One Software will in the next 12 months see an absolute Golden Opportunity to slip the slipper to Adobe and become a Giant Killer.

I just don't agree with Renting something as important to me as the Software that I use every day, I'm using my consumer power and simply deciding to utilise Adobe for as long as is absolutely necessary then jump ship to someone that hasn't tried to strong arm me.

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The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing

Am I right in my understanding that this is the last upgrade before all new upgrades are done in the cloud? And that if you do upgrade from 4 to 5 you will not be forced at a later stage to sign up to the cloud - you can therefore use LR5 for as long as you want?

Thanks.

My own view on this is that I own CS6 Suite + this morning I downloaded LR5, I'm hopeful that someone like On One Software will in the next 12 months see an absolute Golden Opportunity to slip the slipper to Adobe and become a Giant Killer.

+1 ... I think this is a golden opportunity for several of them such as On One, Nik, Aperture etc to "slip the slipper" to Adobe.

I just don't agree with Renting something as important to me as the Software that I use every day, I'm using my consumer power and simply deciding to utilise Adobe for as long as is absolutely necessary then jump ship to someone that hasn't tried to strong arm me.

There are no plans to make Lightroom subscription-only, period. The customer base for consumer products (Lr and the Elements applications) is completely different to that of Creative Cloud, which is why they retain boxed media options and perpetual licenses. The fact Lr has been bundled with CC for months already doesn't change the business model, and neither will any hypothetical 'mini-CC for photographers' should that be announced in future.

There are no plans to make Lightroom subscription-only, period. The customer base for consumer products (Lr and the Elements applications) is completely different to that of Creative Cloud, which is why they retain boxed media options and perpetual licenses. The fact Lr has been bundled with CC for months already doesn't change the business model, and neither will any hypothetical 'mini-CC for photographers' should that be announced in future.

Well, it's an excellent question, one which Adobe are playing a little footloose on answering.

Well, your wrong, I have read several responses from Adobe on Adobe Forums that they ARE looking at a Mini CC for Photographers, and for you to state "Period" about any Business Plan of any Company that supplies software such as Adobe, is patently ridiculous, if it's in Adobes best interests to Can the whole CC set up, they would do it in a New York second, it's about Money, Only about Money.

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The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing

Gadger

Up-graded yesterday via adobe website and downloaded. Love the advanced healing brush the most, saves going into Photoshop CS6 every time. Liked the ideal of the smart previews. I use Lightroom about 95% of the time and PS CS6 5%. So for me it's a must upgrade.

Currently using LR 4.4. When we upgraded from 3.x to 4.0 like so many others there was a numbing, maddening slowdown in LR performance. The new tools and file quality were just great, but arrrgh...so slow.

What is the experience so far from upgraders to LR5 in respect to speed?

Well, your wrong, I have read several responses from Adobe on Adobe Forums that they ARE looking at a Mini CC for Photographers, and for you to state "Period" about any Business Plan of any Company that supplies software such as Adobe, is patently ridiculous, if it's in Adobes best interests to Can the whole CC set up, they would do it in a New York second, it's about Money, Only about Money.

That is the long and the short of it, and people just don't get corporations and the way they make decisions.

For all the "protests", petitions, and angst people fail to even read Adobe's own projections. They expect to lose people, lots of people, they also expect to lose a lot of money in the short-mid term, they don't anticipate higher revenues even possible before 2015 but probably later.

So what is the upside for Adobe? Well they have a revenue stream that is based on the work they have already done, not the work they are doing now. The "Suite" is a mature product and many creatives can make anything in any program they are using, sure the occasional bell is nice but "must have" features are harder and harder to come up with. Tie the subscription model in to the OS compatibility and the processor capability and they don't actually have to come out with anything new indefinitely, but the subscriber must keep paying.

Add in some corporate strategic purchases, imagine a situation where Adobe buys any decent competition and kills it, and whilst some might think I sound like a conspiracy theory nut history has demonstrated time and time again that nimble well managed companies can and do operate that way.

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Too often we lose sight of the fact that photography is about capturing light, if we have the ability to take control of that light then we grow exponentially as photographers. More often than not the image is not about lens speed, sensor size, DR, MP's or AF, it is about the light.

For those pondering the standalone upgrade...last I knew You can only skip one rev... I. E. 3 to 5 is good but the upgrade won't work if you are going from 3 to 6. Ergo.. My lr 3 is getting the upgrade